Byron's Pov

Byron Price was once a proud adventure with limitless potential, with his natural talent as a thief he could join any B rank adventurer team he wished, But during a mission to the south, his team got ambushed by bandits. After a drawn-out battle his team fell one by one to the sheer weight of numbers leaving Byron to be the only survivor, only due to luck did he manage to escape the encirclement, he used all his flash powder at once mixed with lady's smock creating a blinding light and a faint purple mist with a pleasant odor. The enemies unprepared for this attack became blinded and by the time they regained their vision Byron was gone, only then realizing the smell and seeing the smoke in the air started panicking thinking it was poison instead of a flower used by royal ladies as perfume.

Byron did not manage to escape unscathed, his trick with the flash powder was a last ditch effort to escape and when he used it all at once the heat from the explosion melted his arm completely burning off his left hand. On the bright side, the wound was thoroughly cauterized leaving behind a stump where his hand once was.

After the event he went over it millions of times in his head to try and think of what he could of done differently to maybe save his comrades lives but came up with nothing, the only thing he noticed in hindsight was that after the men regained their sight they were panicking behind him loud enough for him to hear during his escape after the explosion was still ringing in his ears.

With several years of experience adventuring and encountering bandits he knew for sure that the people that killed his team were not bandits at all, bandits would not panic at the signs of poison they would have antidotes with them ready to use at a moments notice, It is unavoidable that bandits that are barred from entering cities would run into poisonous beats every now and then so you won't meet a bandit that doesn't carry poison antidotes by habit.

Then several years went by, which he lived by being a teacher for rookie adventurers who specializes in teaching the muscle heads how to spot and disarm traps the money was terrible because anyone who needed his services weren't earning any decent amount money themselves and refused to pay any reasonable amount of money even for something that would inevitably save their lives one day.

Heading south one day to move to a adventurers guild with more newbies to teach he heard some information that peaked his interest while drinking in a tavern. Two drunken men with rod straight backs complaining about various things in the army, when one of them said rather loudly "I'm sick of these bloody dutchy soldiers coming into our territory dressed as bandits and raiding villages" only for the other man to drunkenly reply "yeah it's obvious they aren't bandits, do bandits destroy roads and bridges and raid villages but don't steal shit instead burn it down, no... if you're gonna pretend to be bandits at least rape someone or something

At that moment Bryon's world was spinning and not from the alcohol, he felt sick like everything he once stood for was a lie. Bryon was an adventurer who braved untold dangers for the safety of humanity and maybe some glory on the side, but his team was killed and he was crippled because of some greedy noble and sent soldiers to attack the kingdom he was doing work in. It was only then that he realized that the nobles petty squabbles didn't only involve the nobles and the people who swore allegiance to them but even the people of the lands they are supposed to protect. 

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What angered Bryon the most was that adventurers were killed by these petty fights for land when it's these people that keep the lands safe for the farmers to be able to feed the large cities. Years traveling as an adventurer taught him the humanity is not a stable existence nor are they the rulers of this world like the preachers tell the masses, No there are monsters out there that can snuff out humanity like a candle in a blizzard. These tales of the hero killing the dragon sure. but there are far more stories of the dragon burning down the country and taking a nap on its preferred mountain of gold.

This is the main reason that there is no way to tell the age of a city past 1000 years old regardless of what some noble heritage might say how old it really is. Simply because no city has survived 1000 years without a calamity erasing it from the map with very few exceptions. The human race just rearranges its territory to fit the old monsters whims.

Each time this happens it's called a new age, usually named after whatever caused the most suffering during that era. The past era was called the era of nomads before that was the era of famine and before that was the era of dragons. Now it's the era of prosperity, but scholars are starting to call it the era of war.

In that day Bryon lost all naivety of a young man trying to become a hero to save the people and born was a man with no moral compass, he believed if others did not care what happened to anyone else he shouldn't care either. With this mentality, he used his thief skills in the truest sense of the term and made quite a sum for himself, but if he could use his adventurer skills to steal from the rich the rich could always hire adventurers to guard their blood money, So during his usual rounds he was caught by a trap sprung from the very people he taught how to use them.

Luckily these students were quite appreciative of the help they received from Bryon in the past and tried to convince him to stop these ways. Bryon's reply to their sincerity was some fine acting than a knife in the back before fleeing.

Now with a target on his back and his hand being a distinct feature, he could not stay in the cities anymore, so he left and after surviving in the forests for more than a year he was found by the Black Hawk Mercenaries. They had attached themselves to several nobles in the area which allowed him to walk the cities with impunity along with his brothers, he was also able to retrieve his funds from his time as a burglar.

After some time with the group, they left the area after stepping on the nobles toes a little too hard and made a hasty escape with the band.

After successfully escaping thanks to the wise leaders escape plan he had already set into motion several weeks prior they found themselves in a territory that did not like mercenaries and actively hunted and killed such groups. This seemed like a problem but with the leaders guidance the group managed to completely avoid any patrols or harm and they even got to attack several villages on the way through the territory and Bryon cannot help but remember thinking as he left a small hut with the sounds of sobs coming from behind him "now this is how a real bandit acts" while smiling devilishly